Page 354 of Of Empires and Dust

Forgive me, Rakina. I didn’t know.

“Uvríníl er kanet itharil,” Coren said as she lifted herself to her feet, brushing the dirt from her elbows.Forgiveness is not needed.“You speak the Old Tongue well for one who was not born to it. Therin taught you well.”

Calen must have given his thoughts away in his expression for Coren gave a soft laugh.

“You have his accent when you speak.” The laughter vanished from her voice, the smile fading to a grim line, her eyes hard andcold as she stared at Tivar. “Last I heard, it was my word that would have taken your head from your shoulders.” She rested her hand on the pommel of her sword. “If not my word, my steel will gladly perform the same task.”

Calen stepped between the two. “Chora changed her vote. Tivar and Avandeer have sworn themselves to me, to Valerys, and to all the lives they have destroyed. They are Onuvrín.”

“It is that simple, is it?” Coren asked, a mocking laugh on her tongue. “She swears an oath, and all her sins are forgotten? The lives she ended, the world she burned? She has made oaths before.” Coren spat at Tivar’s feet. “Oaths to stand by her brothers and sisters, oaths to protect those who looked to us. Those oaths did not stay her blade when Eltoar and Fane whispered in her ear. Her oath meansnothing.”

“It is never simple,” Calen answered.

“Oh, it can be simple.” Coren glared at Tivar. “She slaughtered her own kin. Turned her back on everything. She deserves death. That is simple.”

Tivar stepped forwards, staring at Coren, blood streaming from her nose and across an open cut beneath her eye. “I do not ask for absolution.”

“Good. You will not find any here,” Coren answered.

“I wish I could change everything. Take it all back. But I can’t. I?—”

“Farwen is dead,” Coren snapped, cutting Tivar short. “She sacrificed herself to give us time. She was tired, and her soul was broken, and she had fought long enough. Your precious Eltoar and his Dragonguard took her soulkin from her. He ripped her in half, and not once, notever, despite everything she lost, did she think to turn her back on her brothers and sisters. She fought until her dying breath, and it should have been you in her place.” Coren’s jaw clenched as she shook her head. “How am Iever to trust a soul who has broken a vow so sacred? Tell me, Tivar,how?”

“You can’t,” Tivar said, her voice soft. Avandeer let out a low whine and tilted her head to brush her snout against Tivar. Tivar closed her eyes and ran her hand across Avandeer’s scales. “You can never trust us, nor should you. But youcanlet us die for you. It is only in the sacrifice of that which we took from so many – our lives – that perhaps you can see the truth in my words.”

Coren glared at Tivar for a few moments longer, nostrils flaring, then turned to Calen. She drew in a long breath, then let it out slowly. “You answered when I called.”

“Always.” He looked from Coren to Tivar. “I understand your fury. I do not ask you to forgive them, for I would be a hypocrite to do so. I have my own forgiveness to struggle with. But I do ask that you look past it for now, to focus on those who need us. Can you do that?”

Coren stared at Calen for a long moment. “I can.”

“Laël sanyin, vésani, nur mandahír denírove’du. Det vur il’uil dantuí.”

I am sorry, sister, for forcing this upon you. It was the only way.

“La quinye,” Coren said, the look in her eyes speaking of weariness.I understand.“You have clearly spent time around Aeson. It is an honour to meet you, brother.” Her gaze turned up to Valerys, whose heart ached at hearing of Farwen’s death. Neither Calen nor Valerys had ever met her, but she was kin and her loss was felt. Coren inclined her head. “And you, young one.”

Valerys lowered his head so his jaw brushed the grass, his breath blowing over Coren.

“I thought I would never see a hatchling again… though he is far from that now.” Coren rested a hand on the side of Valerys’s scales. She looked to the group of rebels who stood a few feet back, then to Kaygan and Boud. “It appears we have little choice.Can you keep them covered while they lead you to the sally port and gather the others?”

Boud inclined her head. “I can do more than that.”

“Then we will go and speak with Eltoar.” She looked to Ella. “There is no place for the people of Tarhelm here in the North, not anymore, not while this war rages. If I don’t return, I need you to promise me you will take them south. Aeson says the madness has left the Burnt Lands. That route would be my choice. It will be a hard road, but?—”

“I swear it,” Ella said, pressing a hand over her chest.

“We?” Calen asked. “You will come with us?” He turned to look at Varthear, who had slowly moved towards Coren, a low purr in her throat. The dragon had spread her vermillion wings and lowered her head. “Varthear may carry you, but Valerys and I would be honoured to do so as well.”

Coren lowered her hand from Valerys’s jaw, a smile spreading across her lips as she stared at Varthear. “Varthear, you are as beautiful as the first day I saw you, my sapphire queen.” She took a few steps closer, staring up at the dragon in wonder. “I had thought I’d never again see the fire in your eyes. It would be the honour of my life to fly with you… but alas, I cannot, for the fire in my heart would not allow it.”

At that moment, Valerys tilted his head, and the sound of heavy wingbeats drifted at the edge of the dragon’s hearing.

Coren pressed a hand to her chest. “Calen Bryer, I do not know you, and yet I have already lied to you, and it is the greatest lie of my life.”

Calen drew in a sharp breath, allowing the Spark to hover just out of reach, a pressure building within Valerys. He saw the same apprehension in Tivar and Avandeer. Even Fenryr took a step forwards.

“On the night I last saw my master, Kollna, daughter of Luan, she told me something that shaped everything from thatday forward.” Coren looked up at Varthear. “She said ‘our duty, above all else, is to our soulkin.’ Farwen and I, and Aldryn and Syndril, we fought for years. We watched hundreds of our kin perish… watched their souls shattered, their hearts torn to pieces. Have you ever seen the moments after a dragon loses their soulkin?” Tears rolled down Coren’s cheeks. “It is a rage like no other. This whole world could burn, and it would not be enough. And that rage is followed by a darkness that swallows everything.”

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